Poll: Obama at 66 percent, Michelle at 76 percent

President Barack Obama holds a healthy 66 percent job approval rating in the latest national ABC News/Washington Post poll, but the president’s positives trail those of his better half by 10 percent.

Michelle Obama scored a 76 percent approval rating in the survey, up 28 percent from last summer.

Despite the continuing recession, 60 percent of those surveyed approve how Obama
is handling the economy. Fifty-two percent approved of the president’s approach to the deficit.

“At this early stage in his presidency, Obama continues to benefit from a broadly held perception that others should bear the bulk of responsibility for the severe economic problems that confront his administration,” the Post concluded.

And despite concerted attacks by conservative media — such as non-stop anti-Obama propaganda on Fox News — only a quarter of those surveyed blame the president and his advisers for America’s economic doldrums.

In assessing blame for America’s economic doldrums, 80 percent of those polled said they put “a great deal” or a “good amount” of blame on banks and other major financial institutions for taking irresponsible risks. The same percentage blamed corporations for faulty management decisions.

Only 42 percent of those in the nationwide survey feel America is “on the right track.” Still, the figure continues to climb.

The right-track figure stood at just 15 percent in December, rose to 19 percent in January, but has since risen to 31 percent (February) and is up another 11 points in the latest poll. Fifty-seven percent still feel the nation is moving on the wrong track.

According to the poll, 64 percent of Americans have confidence that Obama’s economic policies will improve the sagging economy, a figure that is down from 72 percent before he took office.

A similar confidence figure for President Reagan, at this point in his presidency, stood at 52 percent.

With trips, town meetings, news conferences and interviews, Obama appears to have helped shape a positive image.

The ABC/Post poll asked which statement “comes closer to your view”: a) Obama is an old-style tax-and-spend Democrat, or b) Obama is a new-style Democrat who will be careful with the public’s money.”

Sixty-two percent of those polled opted for the “new style” description, just 32 percent saying the president is “old-style.”

The public split almost evenly on the question of whether America is making “significant progress” in Afghanistan. Obama has announced increases in U.S. troop strength as well as civilian advisers in the Central Asian country.

A total of 45 percent agreed the U.S. is making significant progress, while 47 percent said no. Eight percent of those polled had no opinion.

The telephone poll of 1,000 randomly selected adults. It was conducted Thursday through Sunday, and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percent.